


in which hunk teaches keith how to surf

by lokh



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25613218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokh/pseuds/lokh
Summary: au where keith cant swim
Relationships: Hunk/Keith (Voltron)
Kudos: 30





	in which hunk teaches keith how to surf

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on tumblr [in response to a prompt on april 26 2017](https://lokh.tumblr.com/post/160009141225/au-or-not-hunk-teaches-keith-how-to-surf)

“You can’t _swim?_ ”

Keith’s breaks his accusing stare at the ocean to look at Hunk blankly.

“I lived in a _desert_ , Hunk. I never had to learn how to swim.”

“But the _Weblum_ ,” Hunk protests, hands flying. He almost knocks over the surfboard stuck into the sand next to him, but alas – it’s as rooted to the ground as stubbornly as Keith’s feet are.

“Suits,” Keith says, frown deepening. His arms cross just short of defensively. “You don’t have to know how to swim if you’re wearing the suit.”

“Keith, you’re not surfing with your _armor._ That defeats the point!”

“Well, I’m _not_ getting on a surfboard without it!”

There’s a reason he ended up being the Guardian Spirit of Fire, Keith thinks, not at all sullenly. One of them has to be the fact that this is the first time he’s even _seen_ the ocean, much less actually be close enough to stick his feet in the shallows. He’d done just that, immediately before going back to the safety of a parasol and flopping over onto the sand. Pidge had the same idea, but her book has been long forgotten where it’s half-buried, the girl herself having wandered off to the rock pools to inspect what creatures lay there. Unfortunately, her leaving made Keith look that much more ‘lonely’, in Hunk’s words, and he was promptly ambushed.

“You could,” Hunk pauses. He twiddles his fingers. “You could borrow Pidge’s floatie?”

Keith gives him a scathing look. Hunk throws his hands up placatingly.

“I’m just saying. If it’s not big enough, you could ask Coran?”

“Hey Hunk, is he game?”

They look up. Lance trots over, shaking his sea-sodden hair and sending salt water flying everywhere.

“Hey, Lance,” Hunk greets. Keith sends him a warning look, but Hunk pointedly does not notice. “We can’t – Keith can’t swim.”

Keith half-expects Lance to outright laugh (and don’t get him wrong, because he does) but mostly Lance looks vaguely horrified.

“Uh, are you just saying that because you’re scared to _lose_?”

It’s bait, and it’s working, but Keith keeps his mouth shut, glaring. Yeah, he wants to wipe that incredulous smirk off Lance’s face, but not at the risk of _drowning_.

“Why would I lie about not being able to swim?”

Lance shrugs helplessly. Then his eyes light up.

“Wait, wait – are you a _Gremlin_? Do you turn purple and fuzzy if you get wet?”

“Lance, you _saw_ me put my feet in the water!”

“Maybe you just need a full-body dunk,” Lance suggests, wiggling his fingers. Hunk cuts in before Keith actually attempts to tackle him.

“Okay, but seriously, we don’t actually want Keith to drown,” Hunk says, reasonably. “If he doesn’t want to surf, he doesn’t have to.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Keith mutters. Lance must not hear him, because he tilts his head quizzically, but Hunk is close enough that the words make him turn in surprise. Hunk said so himself when he first tried to convince him – it was the sort of thing Keith would be _good_ at. And, yeah, he _does_ think it looks fun. He’s not going to pretend he’s not at least a bit of an adrenalin-junkie. It’s just that he also thinks it’s fun to be able to keep breathing.

“If we teach you to swim, will you surf?” Lance speaks up, when Keith doesn’t repeat himself.

“I don’t think there’s enough time,” Hunk says, frowning. “We have to get off-planet in like, a day. Like, yeah, Keith is a genius, but that’s like running a marathon after learning how to stand.”

“Well, okay, but he still needs to learn how to swim. It’s a _life skill_.”

They pause, looking at the ocean. The planet really is remarkably earth-like – it’s hard not to wonder when Earth technology will advance enough to detect it. For now, it’s uninhabited, seas clear blue and forest abundant. In the water, Shiro is splashing water playfully at Allura. It’s all fun and games for now, but the competitive gleam in her eyes is one everyone recognises and fears. The way Coran is making a point to float far, far away from them, sipping at his drink from his floatie, is particularly telling. Rest in pieces, Shiro.

“How about we share a board?” Hunk says, suddenly. “Like, _Lilo and Stitch_ style. You can stand in front!”

“Doesn’t Stitch _drown_?”

Keith’s wide-eyed look is completely scandalised, and Hunk has to stop himself from shaking Lance. “Okay, Stitch doesn’t drown, he gets saved by Nani’s hot boyfriend whose name escapes me right now.”

“David,” Lance says. “And the point still stands! Stitch couldn’t swim and had to be resuscitated!”

“He _also_ got dragged under by space aliens that wanted to _capture him_ and was otherwise perfectly fine!”

“Alright, but how do we know _there aren’t aliens waiting in the water?_ ”

“I’ll do it,” Keith cuts in. If they weren’t stopped, they were going to go on _forever._ Worst case scenario, Pidge gets there first. They both turn to look at him. “I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure?” Hunk says, worrying at his lip. “I know I suggested it, but like. I really, _really_ don’t want you to drown.”

“I trust you,” Keith says, simply.

Hunk blinks. His heart leaps at the sincerity and certainty in his voice, and it’s pretty much all he can do to stop himself from melting on the spot. He also abruptly realises that his suggestion means that for optimal safety, he will have to keep his hands on Keith’s person, most likely his hips that are half-bare above his board shorts, using his hands which are also bare.

“Don’t think just because you teamed up that I can’t still beat you,” Lance crows, grabbing a board and taking off for the shore. He claps Shiro on the back as he passes, with Shiro crawling away in defeat from an all too smug Allura. He’s covered almost entirely in seaweed. Pidge is having a field day.

Keith stands, grimacing as he shakes the sand out of his shorts. He holds his hand out, shaking Hunk out of his reverie.

“Show me what I gotta do, big man.”


End file.
